When the actor and director Justin Baldoni sat down for an interview earlier this month, his message was sombre.
‘There is never an excuse to hurt a woman, physically or emotionally,’ the 40-year-old – wearing a brown cardigan and chain necklace – told reporters. ‘We men have to step up and figure out how we can be better allies.’
The reason for his comment was his latest film It Ends With Us – the hit drama about an abusive relationship – which is now being added to Netflix.
How uncomfortably his words now sit. For less than two weeks after his interview with the showbusiness outlet Access Hollywood, he has been plagued by accusations of sexual harassment and bullying by his co-star, Blake Lively.
The film – based on the 2016 bestseller by Colleen Hoover – follows Lily Bloom, a florist played by Lively, who falls in love with a charming but abusive neurosurgeon played by Baldoni, who also directed.
The film, which was released in August, was a box office hit – grossing more than $350 million against a $25 million production budget.
However, despite its commercial success, the behind-the-scenes drama has long eclipsed the film itself amid allegations of onset feuds and a ‘tone deaf’ promotional tour.
At the weekend, that was brought to the fore again following bombshell reports that Lively – who found fame on TV soap opera Gossip Girl – had filed an 80-page legal complaint against Baldoni.
In the document, seen by the Mail, she accused Baldoni of ‘repeated sexual harassment’ as well as coordinating a smear campaign to ‘destroy’ her reputation.
This is all the more shocking as Baldoni – who has denied the allegations – has long positioned himself as an ally to women.
As well as giving talks on ‘toxic masculinity’, he has professed to be a devout follower of Baha’i – a religion that champions unity, peace and gender parity.
So how on earth did a film intended to highlight the issue of domestic abuse – starring two seemingly squeaky-clean Hollywood stars – become Tinseltown’s biggest scandal of the year?
The story starts on January 4 this year, shortly before filming on the project resumed following industry strikes in 2023, when 37-year-old Lively demanded an ‘all hands’ meeting to address what her legal complaint describes as the ‘hostile environment’ on set.
Lively didn’t attend the meeting alone, however, calling on her A-list husband Ryan Reynolds, who is one of the most powerful and recognisable names in Hollywood. Also in attendance was Baldoni’s business partner and the film’s producer Jamey Heath, as well as a representative from Sony, the film’s distributor.
The meeting concluded with a list of 30 extraordinary ‘rules’ being drawn up, signed and implemented for the remainder of the shoot – all based on alleged incidents that had happened on set.
These include claims that Baldoni entered Lively’s make-up trailer while she was topless, showed the actress pornographic pictures and a graphic video of his own wife giving birth, repeatedly discussed his ‘porn addiction’, described his own genitalia and even – in one horrifying incident – bit and sucked on Lively’s lips during an improvised kissing scene for which Baldoni insisted on doing multiple takes.
But this was only the tip of the iceberg. The new ‘rules’ for production also stated that Lively should be replaced by an ‘A-list stunt double’ for scenes involving ‘rape and/or violence’ with Baldoni.
They also said that Baldoni must not add any new ‘sex scenes, oral sex, or on camera climaxing’ which weren’t in the previously agreed script, and that an intimacy co-ordinator should be employed on set whenever the two stars shared a scene.
The rules weren’t even exclusively related to sexual impropriety. Other demands included that Baldoni stop claiming he was ‘speaking to’ Lively’s dead father and that he stop asking about her weight – which she suggested was akin to fat-shaming.
Baldoni, via his company Wayfarer Studios, appeared to agree to the demands, writing in a formal response letter: ‘Although our perspective differs in many aspects, ensuring a safe environment for all is paramount irrespective of differing viewpoints. Regarding your outlined requests, we find most of them not only reasonable but also essential for the benefit of all parties involved’.
Filming duly restarted on January 5 and concluded just over a month later on February 9.
It appears that the final month of shooting was a success, with Lively telling close friends and colleagues that Baldoni’s behaviour had markedly improved.
However, as soon as the film was in the can, the trouble started up again. Lively got hold of the film’s footage and hired her own editor – who had recently worked on her husband’s superhero smash hit Deadpool & Wolverine – to produce a final version of the film independently of Baldoni.
The Mail understands this was only possible as Lively had the support of the distributor, Sony.
One film industry insider told the Mail: ‘Sony strong-armed Baldoni into accepting Blake’s cut of the film. They sat him down and said, “It’s her version or no version”. ’
Ahead of the film’s premiere on August 6, both camps had become increasingly paranoid, with no direct contact between the two stars. Then Lively and a number of her co-stars, as well as the book’s author Hoover, announced they wouldn’t do any press alongside Baldoni – a decision that put the film’s commercial future in jeopardy.
By this point, rumours were already swirling online after a number of cast members unfollowed Baldoni on Instagram and Reynolds even blocked the self-styled impresario.
Now, in a major new accusation, Lively alleges that around that time, Baldoni began a malicious campaign of ‘social manipulation’ to ‘destroy’ her reputation.
Lively claims that on July 31, a week before the premiere, Baldoni hired a crisis communications specialist named Melissa Nathan, who had previously helped revive the image of beleaguered actor Johnny Depp as well as the controversial rappers Drake and Travis Scott.
Allegedly, Ms Nathan planted and advanced negative stories about Ms Lively online – while protecting the reputation of Baldoni. Lively’s legal team also claim that Ms Nathan – through her company The Agency Group PR – engaged in a tactic known as ‘astroturfing’: when comments are posted online to appear as if they from the public, when in fact they are posted by an organisation.
Ultimately, Lively’s legal team believe Baldoni tried to retaliate against her harassment complaints by ‘battering her image, harming her businesses, and causing her and her family severe emotional harm’.
In text messages seen by the Mail, Ms Nathan assured a member of Baldoni’s team: ‘We can bury anyone.’
But there was more. Lively’s legal complaint also claims that Ms Nathan’s team put together a document called ‘Scenario Planning’, detailing tactics Baldoni could employ should Lively go public with any of her allegations.
These supposedly included planting stories about how Lively had ‘weaponised feminism’ and also suggested implicating her friend, pop star Taylor Swift, who had been previously accused of using feminism as a bullying tactic.
Crucially, the negative strategy supposedly employed by Baldoni appears to have worked.
For a report commissioned by Lively and conducted by the market research firm Terakeet showed the actress had likely been the object of a ‘targeted, multichannel online attack’.
What’s more, it was noted that this ‘attack’ was similar to the online trolling of Amber Heard during her court case against ex-husband Johnny Depp, whom she had accused of domestic abuse. Depp went on to win the court case while Heard’s reputation was left in tatters.
Regardless of the tactics employed by Baldoni, Lively’s attitude on the press tour continued to make headlines. Allegedly, the actress wanted to promote the film as an upbeat romcom, rather than a portrait of domestic abuse. But
for many fans, she took this too far – refusing to discuss the serious topic at all.
At a Q&A with two of her co-stars – Jenny Slate and Isabela Ferrer as well as the author Colleen Hoover – Lively didn’t mention domestic violence. Instead, the quartet giggled their way through the conversation discussing their dream jobs and even their zodiac signs.
As one user posted on X: ‘This is the most tone-deaf thing I’ve ever seen. This movie is about domestic violence, why are you promoting it like it’s a Barbie movie?’
In another toe-curling incident, Lively posted a cheery video to TikTok telling girls to ‘Grab your friends, wear your florals and head out to see [the film]’.
Her character was further called into question following the release of an interview clip from 2016 in which a then-pregnant Lively retorted to a journalist’s comment about her ‘little bump’ with the sarcastic remark: ‘Congrats on your little bump.’
Sharing the interview over the summer, the Norwegian reporter Kjersti Flaa said she had been struggling with infertility and the exchange had made her want to quit journalism.
But the trouble didn’t stop there. For Lively was also accused of using the film’s press tour to promote her own business and brands.
Conveniently, the film’s release coincided with the launch of her haircare company Blake Brown, which offered items including ‘wild nectar’ shampoo at £15 a bottle.
Lively’s team later blamed the scheduling clash on the film’s delayed release date – apparently, It Ends With Us was supposed to come out on Valentine’s Day, six months earlier.
It was also reported that a ‘promotional email’ was circulated explaining ‘how to make It Ends With Us-inspired cocktails’ using Blake’s drinks brand, Betty Buzz. Some of those recipes are even said to have required Aviation Gin – the drinks brand owned by her husband.
Unsurprisingly, many commentators criticised Lively for using the film’s release as a brand-building exercise – with the strength of feeling so great that it was dubbed the ‘Blakelash’.
Although the furore did little to dampen the film’s success at the box office, its critical reception was lukewarm at best. Despite the serious subject matter, the Mail’s Brian Viner described it as ‘cheesier than a wheel of Camembert and shallower than a toddler’s paddling pool’.
Months on from the release of It Ends With Us and many thought this whole unsavoury episode had been put to bed. But nothing of the sort. For it was just last week that Blake Lively submitted her legal complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, detailing these myriad allegations.
Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman described the document as ‘intently salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media’. He added: ‘It is shameful that Ms Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives.’
Furthermore, Mr Freedman retorted with his own allegations against Lively – including that she threatened to not show up to set during filming and not promote the film unless her ‘demands’ were met.
In a statement via her own attorney, Lively said: ‘I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.’
Whether It Ends With Us will become a Christmas success for Netflix is impossible to know.
But one thing is for sure: When it comes to this forgettable film, the real drama was always happening behind the scenes.
This post was originally published on here
